STUDIO CITY ”” The Collegian won first place for Best Website in a statewide college journalism competition Saturday — the first time since the 2006-2007 school year — beating out much bigger college newspapers from UCLA, USC and UC Berkeley.
“When Jesse and I remade the website to its current form, we did it to serve our campus better ”” but also to win,” said Troy Pope, Collegian editor-in-chief. “But we had no idea that we would actually win. We are beside ourselves and are really excited that The Collegian is on the right path ”” it means we’re doing something right.”
Pope, along with former editor-in-chief Jesse Franz, set up the new website in 2015 to look and feel dramatically different than it did before.
“We’re competing against the UCLA Daily Bruin, UC Berkeley’s Daily Californian ”” some of the best college newspapers in the country,” Pope said. “I think they were as surprised as we were when The Collegian was announced.”
Incidentally, The Daily Bruin won the top prize for Best Newspaper ”” a highly coveted award which they often win.
The award won at the California College Media Association (CCMA) awards banquet in Studio City was one of 13 awards The Collegian took home to Fresno State.
The awards include: Best Website, Best Editorial, Best Column, Best Arts & Entertainment article, Best Newspaper Page Design, Best Headline Portfolio, Best Infographic, Best Use of Social Media, Best News Video, Best Black & White Ad, Best Color Ad, Best Sales Materials, and Best Online Ad.
On top of Best Website at CCMA, The Collegian also took home the Best in Show award at the Associated Collegiate Press conference which happened concurrently with CCMA. There, they compete against schools all over America and parts of Canada.
Nine current and former Collegian staffers won this year. The students who won awards include: former art director Tim McAtee, general advertising manager Laura Maciel, former news editor Ricardo Cano, photo editor Darlene Wendels, opinion editor Megan Bronson, former news editor Paul Schlesinger and former multimedia journalist Jonathan Roque along with Pope and Franz.
Other top awards won by Collegian staffers were first place for Black & White Ad by McAtee, and second place in Best Headline Portfolio ”” again by Pope.
Several Collegian staffers attended the four-day (ACP) conference in Studio City which culminated with the CCMA banquet. The conference is designed to help young journalists understand editorial leadership, story crafting, legal rights, and what college faculty and administration can and cannot do in regards to the flow of information.
The Collegian has been serving the student body at Fresno State since 1922. It is run by students, and has faculty advisers from the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism. Faculty adviser Dr. Bradley Hart also attended the conference with the students.
Here is a list of every winner:
Associated Collegiate Press (nation)
Best in Show
Best Website
The Collegian at Fresno State
California College Media Association (state)
1st Place
Best Website
Troy Pope & Jesse Franz
Best Black & White Ad
Tim McAtee
2nd Place
Best Headline Portfolio
Troy Pope
3rd Place
Best Editorial
Troy Pope
Best Newspaper Column
Megan Bronson
Best A&E Story
Troy Pope
Best Newspaper Page/Design Spread
Troy Pope and Ricardo Cano
Best Headline Portfolio
Troy Pope
Best Website
Jesse Franz and Troy Pope
Best News Video
Jonathan Roque
Best B&W Advertisement
Tim McAtee
Best Color Advertisement
Darlene Wendels, Laura Maciel, Troy Pope and Tim McAtee
Best Sales Promotion Materials
Laura Maciel, Tim McAtee and Troy Pope
Best Online Advertisement
Tim McAtee
Honorable Mention
Best Infographic
Ricardo Cano
Best Use of Social Media
Troy Pope and Paul Schlesinger